"Ow. Ow. Ow."
Leta winced with each step as trudged dutifully behind Allister, one hand gripping the wrist of the other as she tried to nurse a still healing wrist.
She'd done her best to do the whole 'tuck and roll' thing that the giant Hunter had told her when it came time to jump she defiantly been unsuccessful. Gravel from the train tracks had torn up her jeans and arms when she landed, embedding in her skin and making the pain even worse as her nanites pushed the stones out of her skin.
Bloody kneed, dust covered, and looking more like a literal zombie than the thralls, Leta was ready for the day to be over before it was even lunch time.
Allister and Bonnie guarded her front and rear, the team splitting up again to with Hayoto and Koa going with Afra to another secret Sect location.
It gave Leta a chance to recap the entire morning, from seeing an apartment building of thralls watching her to the confrontation with the Proxy.
When she told him about using her persuasion skill to override the Thrall, he did a quick skip step that she could almost mistake for a stumble.
"Leta, lass, you'll need to go into more detail about controlin' tha thrall. We're gonna have a long, long talk about you and and what ya can do when we've got a quiet moment." He gave a long, drawn out sigh as if he was in pain.
"Yes, sir." She squeaked, then winced as the gravel in her shoes choose that moment to dig into the arch of her foot.
The jump site was a section of construction zone where they were adding more tracks but the entire site was currently devoid of workers. Their destination was a section wall that had been broken down to reveal an empty plot land between a small church and an abandoned building where, hidden under a false floor in a derelict shed, was the entrance to the Sect hideout.
One metal door led to a tight tunnel that looked to date from the country's civil war. The air was stale and damp as if it had been abandoned for decade with almost total darkness that required torchlight from their cracked phones to navigate.
You could feel the very subtle descent further and further underground with each step.
They weren't far into the tunnel when she felt a vibration coming closer and closer with each step until dust was raining from the ceiling.
"We're right underneath the E75." Allister answered her unasked question. "Mind yer step."
The tunnel twisted, branching off multiple times until they arrived at another metal door with another air pressure wheel that sealed the threshold.
Over and over again.
Tunnel.
Metal door.
A lot of side tunnels.
Metal door.
Tunnel.
Leta wondered if this was what a rat in the New York City subway system felt like. It reminded her very much of that Paris Catacombs, though she hoped her bones wouldn't get left down here if she got lost.
"How long have we've been walking?"
"We've done about 15 kilometers, an' we've got three more ta' go." He responded over his shoulder without hesitation.
She wanted to groan, but was honestly scared Allister would give her a look. The man seemed to have eyes in the back of his head.
Leta was positive that her feet had been cut raw by the the rocks in her shoes when one final door opened wide to a well lit room that had her squinting after coming from the darkness of the tunnels.
Inside was a large room that reminded her of a fallout bunker, concrete walls and floors encompassed a full kitchen, dining room with seating for twelve, and a living room space with couches surrounding a coffee table. Doors led off to tunneled hallways that she assumed were living quarters and bathrooms with electric table and wall lamps giving a soft, cozy glow to an otherwise survivalist setting.
"Where are we?"
"We're about two kilometers east of Perama. This is one of the original Sect locations of Athens which started as just a cave and continuously expanded over the centuries to tunnels and antechambers. It saw a lot of use during the Civil War but was a staging ground for Chosen operations during the military coup d'etat." Allister closed the door behind her that creaked and squealed on tight hinges.
He sighed, then turned to her with a nod. "Right then. I fix us a cuppa and we'll settle in for a chat, aye?"
While it was phrased like a question, Leta knew that there wasn't any room for discussion in the statement.
"Do… you need any help."
He paused, one hand cutting the tap water that was filling a kettle. "Aye." He took a deep breath. "Check the icebox. Not sure the last time this place was stocked up, but there should be somethin'."
Not long after, they were settled on couches in the living room, steaming cups of herbal tea and a defrosted sponge cake between them.
"Alright, lass. Es' time ta come clean with me. Al' no lie, what ya've said so far about this new talent is both a blessin' an a curse."
"Okay. Um, so you remember when we went through all my talents… last night?""Aye…" He drew the word out suspiciously.
"Well, I used that Scan ability that's kinda similar to Eriene's, I noticed something that was the same for all the thralls, and that was that they have super, super weak when it comes to mental strength. I sort of thought I'd try and see if maybe I could break through and change the settings, you know? Like when you tell a computer to print to a different printer - just changing the direction. At first it didn't work but then it did when I touched the thrall. It didn't remove the beguiling, but more changed the owner like you would if you bought a used smartphone. I…I get the feeling that I could maybe remove the beguiling completely in the future, but I'd need a lot of practice."
Allister stared into his tea cup for some time before he finally took a sip.
The fact that the massive Hunter was so quiet was frankly terrifying and foreboding like watching the water rush out to sea before a tsunami.
He took a long sip, then placed the china back down gently.
"Leta, I'll speak plainly. The Talent's you're showin' are fundamentally unnatural. It's like you're a hodge podge of all kinda' Classes, but don' fit inta one. At first, I welcomed the change and was excited tha there might be others like you to help us manage the Blessed. But the more tha' happens, the more concerned I get. Yer talents are incredible, don' get me wrong, lass. But, the gods gave us these gifts to create order, an I'm startin' ta fear that yer the opposite. Where ever ya go, chaos seems ta follow."
He shook his head, unable to meet her gaze as a feeling of dread weighed on her stomach like a crushing bolder.
"I'm sorry, lass." Allister breathed forlorn, "But even if this alerts tha Crowns, I'll need to get Atreus back on this. I fear the longer we keep ya hidden, the more danger yer puttin all of us in just by bein in yer company."